Alvise Carlon, Director of Digital Services, Europe and Latin America, Ericsson: To take full advantage of 5G technology, operators must first understand its fundamentals

5G technology could bring the most significant transformative opportunities for society and the economy that we have yet to see. Whether we mean, for example, the Smart Manufacturing segment, solutions to improve the efficiency of transport networks, personalized healthcare services or educational opportunities available to all, commercial 5G networks can improve our lives.

By implementing 5G technology, you can rethink business plans, improve the quality of public services, and make the activities of various industries more efficient. However, it is necessary for the telecommunications industry to undergo a transformation process.

The advantage of being the first to release a technology versus being the first to develop a fully functional product

5G is the fastest generation of mobile telephony developed to date and its coverage continues to expand – according to the Ericsson Mobility Report 2022, the number of 5G service subscriptions is expected to exceed one billion this year.

And to reduce costs and be first to market, many operators have started to develop 5G networks on non-autonomous architectures (NSA), and the fact that they used the equipment, radios and frequency spectrum for 4G LTE technology helped them to accelerate the development of 5G services.

However, this approach also has some limitations, as the technologies of previous generations were not designed for all possible usage scenarios today, so they cannot provide all the capabilities necessary for the operation of a 5G autonomous network.

In addition, the most innovative applications and use cases depend on significantly improved speed, reduced latency, network reliability and security (all of which are in turn dependent on autonomous and core 5G networks), as well as network segmentation operations.

Improvement of new business models

Unlike non-standalone (NSA) networks, 5G Core Standalone is a core network – the basic infrastructure that creates all connections (ensuring their reliability and security) and that facilitates access to services; more precisely, it is a network built entirely using special technologies designed to support the implementation of modern telecommunications services.

5G Core Standalone technology is the core of any 5G network. Being built in the cloud, it can run across different cloud infrastructures, providing greater responsiveness, as well as higher levels of resilience and greater flexibility in deployment.

Although this approach can take full advantage of 5G technology, operators may face some challenges in the implementation process in terms of managing the infrastructure migration process to minimize operational disruptions; integration of this technology with existing systems; management of employee improvement and renewal processes.

Adaptation to market conditions

In order to effectively transition to 5G Core Standalone technology, we must first define the 5G features required for the usage scenarios and business models that operators must support, especially in contexts where some features may only be required for certain geographic areas or types. activities, for example, industrial parks or airports.

Therefore, there is no single implementation model. They may vary depending on market conditions and the needs of each individual industry. However, there are also some approaches that will always produce results, regardless of the industry in which they are applied.

The dual-mode Core device can facilitate a simplified and efficient transition to the new 5G core network architecture, as it can work in synergy with 4G technology. For example, the dual-mode 5G Core device developed by Ericsson is built on cloud technology using the principle of application-delivered service sharding and combines the new 5G Core (5GC) network functions with the functions available at the Evolved Packet Core level. (EPC) in a common multi-access platform on which both 5G and other technologies of previous generations can work.

Optimizing the cloud architecture is also a very important step, and Ericsson is one of the traditional market leaders in this segment. Ericsson has developed five key development principles by which organizations can truly benefit from the benefits of cloud technology.

The most important of these, when it comes to optimizing the cloud architecture to perfectly match the specifications of 5G technology, is aimed at the process of orchestration and automation. Along with automated orchestration of services, increasing the degree of automation of network operations also significantly increases the efficiency of service providers. In this way, they can focus their efforts on finding the best ways to apply 5G technology to meet the specific business needs of each organization or industry, as well as optimize their operational costs.

Advantages of the network segmentation process

New low-latency 5G use cases are among the most suitable for industrial applications, especially when supported by an increasing number of processes and technologies such as network segmentation. Through the process of network segmentation, service providers can fragment a single network into several separate virtual sectors, each offering resources and capabilities specific to a customer and tailored to their needs. This will then help them (service providers) to develop innovative business plans and identify new revenue streams created by 5G technology.

For example, the automotive sector – especially the autonomous vehicle segment – ​​offers huge opportunities for operators in the telecommunications sector. As they must provide constant connectivity and high quality of service, manufacturers will also need to provide a dedicated network part for connecting vehicles, which in turn can offer services according to standards agreed with operators through service level agreements (SLAs) for their functioning.

This is the type of scenario where 5G technology will deliver the benefits that operators are interested in. And once they have access to these benefits, their role will become critical to the growth of their clients’ businesses. Furthermore, in addition to accessing new revenue streams, 5G technology will also increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

This is a context in which Ericsson already works with several organizations around the world; The purpose of these partnerships is to facilitate the transition to 5G Core Standalone infrastructure, and there are companies that are already beginning to access the benefits created by this process.

The transition to major autonomous 5G networks will change the consumption of digital services

The global telecommunications industry has successfully completed the first major phase of 5G deployment, with 5G networks and devices being deployed and deployed on a large scale in many regions. We are now in the second phase where global industries are transitioning to standalone 5G networks supported by core networks. From now on, we can expand 5G technology to as many service providers as possible to take full advantage of the technology and make it more accessible to society, businesses and network operators.

In the case of 4G, for example, experience has shown that the organizations that invested in the technology early and launched services early in its adoption also ultimately gained and retained the largest market share. Similarly, service providers who lead the transition to 5G core autonomous networks will truly be the winners of the 5G era, positioning themselves at the center of an incredibly transformative period, innovating across industries and fundamentally reimagining the way digital services are delivered and consumed. At the same time, there will be those who will stand out at the level of the entire ecosystem as true partners in the digital transformation process.

For more information and details, visit Ericsson.com.

Article supported by Ericsson